->Nableezy: Reverted 1 edit by 183.80.222.70 (talk): Arbpia

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Reverted 1 edit by 183.80.222.70 (talk): Arbpia

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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Yeshivat Otniel shooting
| partof= the [[Second Intifada]] militancy campaign
| image =
| caption =
| map= <div style="width:250px; float:none; clear:none;"><div style="position:relative; padding:0; width:250px;">[[File:Israel_outline_south_wb.png|250px]]
<br /><div style="position: absolute; z-index: 2; top: 71%; left: 50%; height: 0; width: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"><div style="position: relative; text-align: center; left: -3px; top: -3px; width: 6px; font-size: 6px;">[[File:Red pog.svg|7px]]</div><div style="font-size:90%; line-height: 110%; z-index:90; position: relative; top: -1.5em; width: 6em; left: 0.5em; text-align: left;"><span style="padding: 1px;">'''The attack site'''</span></div></div></div></div>
| location = [[Otniel]], [[West Bank]]
|target=
|coordinates = {{coord|31|26|15.82|N|35|01|35.31|E|display=inline}}
| date = 27 December 2002<br>Starting around 7:45 pm
| time-begin =
| time-end =
| timezone =
| type = [[Shooting]]
| fatalities = 2 IDF soldiers<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/two-of-the-four-victims-of-otniel-attack-were-soldiers-1.24065|title=Two of the four victims of Otniel attack were soldiers|date=27 December 2002|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref> and 2 Israeli civilians (+ 2 attackers)
| injuries = 5 IDF soldiers, 4 Israeli civilians
| perps = [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]] claimed responsibility
}}
[[File:Yeshiva Otniel Night.jpg|thumb|Yeshivat Otniel]]
The '''Yeshivat Otniel shooting''', was an attack carried out on 27 December 2002, in which two Palestinian gunmen killed four students at [[Yeshivat Otniel]], a [[Hesder Yeshiva]] in the [[Israeli settlement]] of [[Otniel]] near Hebron in the West Bank.

==The attack==
On Friday night, 27 December 2002, over 100 students and faculty members of [[Yeshivat Otniel]] were getting ready to have dinner in the dining room of the Yeshiva, while in the adjacent kitchen, four yeshiva students on kitchen duty organized the first course of the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]] meals. Two of the four students on kitchen duty were IDF soldiers on leave without pay from the army.

Meanwhile, two Palestinian militants of the Islamic Jihad, disguised as Israeli soldiers and equipped with battle vests, [[M16 rifle]]s and [[hand grenade]]s, made their way to the settlement through the valley located between Othniel and the town of [[Dahariya]],<ref name="ynet">{{cite web | url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-2344615,00.html | title=ארבע הרוגים בהתקפה על הישיבה בהתנחלות עתניאל | publisher=Yedioth Ahronot | date=28 December 2002 | access-date=24 August 2012 |author1=Weiss, Afrat |author2=Farish, Falix }}</ref> and managed to infiltrate into the settlement. The militants cut the rickety fence which was erected around the building of the Yeshiva<ref name=ynet /> and afterwards, around 19:45 pm, they snuck into the building through the back door of the kitchen. The students on kitchen duty had just finished preparing the main dishes on serving plates and were about to bring them into the dining room when the militants entered the kitchen and opened fire at them. In the last moments of his life, Staff Sergeant Noam Apter, upon immediately realizing what was happening, managed to lock the [[sliding door]] separating the kitchen and the dining room, before he was killed by the militants. In doing so, Noam prevented the militants from entering the dining room and carrying out a far deadlier attack. Nevertheless, after killing the students on kitchen duty, the militants smashed the window of the sliding door and began shooting through it into the dining room, wounding four yeshiva students, one of them critically.<ref name=ynet /> The majority of the students in the dining room managed to hide underneath the tables while some of them, who were carrying weapons with them, returned fire at the militants.

During the event soldiers from [[Kfir Brigade#Structure|Lavi Battalion]] rushed to the scene and waged a 30-minutes gun battle with one of the militants, who had barricaded himself in the kitchen room, before being shot dead. During the exchange of fire the second militant managed to flee the building, and ran through the valley south of the settlement towards [[Dahariya]]. Additional IDF forces from the [[Nahal Brigade]] assisted by a [[Tracking (hunting)|tracker]] pursued the second militant and approached him near a large [[quarry]]. The terrorist noticed the soldiers and opened fire on them, wounding three of them seriously. A gun battle was waging between the IDF force and the militant while he was hiding behind rocks and bushes. Eventually two IDF soldiers managed to charge at him simultaneously from both sides, and kill him.<ref name=ynet /> In total, five IDF soldiers who participated in the gun battles with the militants were injured during the exchange of fire.<ref name=ynet />

==Claim of responsibility==
The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. The organization's leader, [[Abdallah Ramadan Shalah]], stated during a phone call with [[Al Jazeera]] that the attack was carried out in retaliation for the assassination of the organization's West Bank militia leader a day earlier in [[Qabatya]], near Hebron.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2002-12-27/world/settlement.attack_1_palestinian-gunman-israeli-military-sources-jewish-settlement?_s=PM:WORLD|title=CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref>

==Israel's reaction==
After the attack, The [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] placed [[Hebron]] and three nearby villages under [[curfew]]. In addition, as a result of the terrorist attack, Israeli Prime Minister [[Ariel Sharon]] told his cabinet that he and Defense Minister [[Shaul Mofaz]] had forged an agreement to ramp up the war against terrorism.<ref name="ToI">{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/Israel-to-step-up-war-on-terror/articleshow/32941026.cms | title=Israel to step up war on terror | work=The Times of India | date=31 December 2002 | access-date=24 August 2012}}</ref>

As part of the IDF's policy of deterring Palestinian terrorists from carrying out attacks, on the night of 30 December 2002 an IDF force demolished the homes of Ahmed Faqih, 20, and Mohammed Shaheen, 20, who carried out the attack in Otniel, which were located in the village of [[Dura, Hebron|Dura]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2347413,00.html|title=ynet צה"ל הרס את בתיהם של מבצעי הפיגוע בעתניאל - חדשות|publisher=Ynet|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=articles&id=34407|title=Israeli Occupation soldiers Kill Three Palestinians|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2610389.stm Gunmen kill Jewish settlers] - published in [[BBC News]], 27 December 2002
* [http://www.haaretz.com/news/two-of-the-four-victims-of-otniel-attack-were-soldiers-1.24065 Two of the four victims of Otniel attack were soldiers] - published in ''[[Haaretz]]'', 27 December 2002
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/28/world/gunmen-kill-4-inside-yeshiva-in-west-bank.html Gunmen Kill 4 Inside Yeshiva In West Bank] - published in ''[[The New York Times]]'', 28 December 2002

{{Palestinian militancy attacks in the 2000s}}

[[Category:Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine]]
[[Category:School killings in Israel]]
[[Category:Second Intifada casualties]]
[[Category:School shootings in Israel]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 2002]]
[[Category:December 2002 events in Asia]]

Yeshivat Otniel shooting - Revision history

->Nableezy: Reverted 1 edit by 183.80.222.70 (talk): Arbpia